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Alvarado Elementary School Site Council Minutes School Year 2003-2004

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Minutes for Alvarado School Site Council Meeting December 16,2003

Chaired by: Claudia Scharff

Recorded by: Jilma Ortiz

Parents: Nick Driver, José Rivas, Kathleen Ribeira, Julia Harrison, Ellen Little, Debbie Skaggs

Staff: Jilma Ortiz, Claudia Scharff, David Weiner, Robert Broecker, Mary Lou Cooper, Nancy Hawkins

Claudia shared information from District SSC Training

Nancy Hawkins talks to us about the Behavior & Attendance Plan

Should ELAC be a part of the SSC body?

State and District Budget

Community Meeting

Grant Funds

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Minutes for Alvarado School Site Council Meeting Sep 09, 2003

Parents: Melissa Serrano, Nick Driver, Julia Harrison, Kathleen Ribeiro (alternate)

Staff: David Weiner, Carol Sackett, Rosemary Hiller, Nancy Hawkins, Darcy Estes, Claudia Scharff

With Chair Ruben Vasquez absent, Darcy Estes chaired.

Carol Sackett, recorder.

Site council election
Although all parents were elected last year for two year terms, several people are unable to continue. Alternates need to be elected each year. Nina Berg completed her one year term. Violeta Garcia and Susana Rojas are leaving the council. Melissa has been on the SSC for several terms. There was discussion of how to achieve diversity on the SSC. It was also noted that the terms are for two years and people should consider that when running. At the end of the meeting it was unclear how many parent seats are currently vacant.

Dave said the parent election would be held again at Back-to School Night, September 18. This will give us a few days to send home ballots with parents who are not able to attend Back to School Night. The results need to be tallied and turned into downtown by September 26.

Dave said he would send home a letter for parents to nominate themselves. He will rewrite the letter he sent home last year to solicit a little bit of information about each of the people. He will send it home on Thursday, September 11, to be returned to teachers by Tuesday. There will also be an email sent out.

Several parents have expressed interest in being on the SSC. We discussed how to recruit parents who represent our multicultural community. Violeta can speak to people she knows who might be interested. It is hard for people who need translation to be participants. Dave will ask teachers at the staff meeting to recommend parents from their classroom who might be interested. He will call the parents that are mentioned.

Darcy will make a big poster by the front door.

Election logistics:
Dave suggested that nominees be called to the stage during the dinner part of the evening between 6:00 and 6:30. Nominees will wear stickers with their names on them so they will be recognized. Darcy and Ruben will make a statement about creating a diverse council.

After a discussion it was decided that ballots be in the classrooms and the voting take place there. At 7:30, Dave will call all of the teachers to his office with the ballots. Enough ballots will be provided for all parents. Parents who did not attend can get ballots with their children on Friday to be returned by Tuesday.

Next Year:
Nomination forms will be sent home with the parent packet.

The Union Building Committee is organizing the staff elections. Claudia, Nancy, and Mary Fulgham were elected last year. Rosemary and Darcy have completed their second year. We need a classified employee to take Mary's place. Carol may or may not be the UBC representative on the SSC. There are two teacher openings and one classified opening.

Size of our SSC
Dave said we have the biggest SSC in the district. He wanted to discuss whether we should make it smaller. We have 7 parents and 7 staff. We could make it 5 and
5 or 6 and 6. Would it be more efficient or harder?

Points in favor of smaller SSC:
less time would be spent in discussion, maybe have fewer regulars and more alternates, literacy committee and art committee will be making reports each month so there will be more communication, staff representation is not very diverse.

Points Against smaller SSC:
discussion hasn't seemed unwieldy, more people represent more experiences, clear facilitation can take care of rambling discussions.

The motion was made and seconded to keep the School Site Council representation at 7 staff and 7 parents. The motion passed 6 in favor, 2 opposed.

It was suggested that we revisit this discussion in May.

SB 65 report-Nancy Hawkins
The grant is $50,000 less 9.8% operating costs not sales tax.

Nancy said there is good news. We were approved for the mini grant to send people to the Conference on Dropout Prevention. We were also approved for the big grant, ($50,000- sales tax), which pays part of her salary, but the money has been held up due a computer virus.

The conference will be held October 23 - 25 in Sacramento. We can take the principal, a parent from the SSC, Nancy, an Excel person, and a teacher. Anyone else can go if they want to pay for themselves.

Principal's Report -- David Weiner
In the spring Dave sent a letter informing parents about the possible loss of Park and Rec. He received three emails in response. In August, he called Park and Rec and was informed that they had closed Alvarado as a site due to lack of staffing. All extra students
are currently enrolled in Excel or Alvarado Afterschool. He did not withdraw from the program so if more funding comes along we may be reconsidered-very unlikely.

Other Business
It was asked if anything could be done about the teacher that was laid off. The answer is no, it is through the new federal guidelines.

Will parents receive letters from the district about "Highly Qualified Teachers" since the state has not yet determined the definition of "highly qualified"? Dave said he had not heard anything about it.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m.

The next meeting will be Tuesday, October 14 at 5:30 p.m.

Meeting Summary:
Votes:
leave SSC at 7 parents, 7 staff

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